Like Nusatenggara, the island of Sulawesi offers only a sparse historical and archaeological record before the 17th century. By the 14th century, states had begun to form in the southwestern peninsula (generally called South Sulawesi), but because there appears to have been little Indic cultural influence in this process, there are no significant inscriptions from this era. In 1300, the main states were Luwu’ (by tradition the oldest state in the region) and Soppeng, both of them consisting of powerful centres dominating a number of surrounding lesser states, including Sidenreng and Lamuru. Soppeng’s power seems to have been based especially on the export of rice, while Luwu’ exported iron from the interior. In the late 15th century, Soppeng appears to have declined in power, while Wajo’ emerged as junior member of an alliance with Luwu’. The dominance of Luwu’, however, was checked by the rise of Bone in the early 16th century, while a new power arose in the south in the form of Gowa. Little is known about the other peninsulas of Sulawesi in this period.

1700

In 1700

Sukadana (Matan)

suffered defeat in the war with the Hedgehog (vazal Bantam). Hedgehogs assisted Bantam and VOCs, so the porcupine and Sukadana Banten claims (mostly West Kalimantan) as its territory

Joan van Hoorn

Joan (or Johan) van Hoorn was born on 16 November 1653, son to the wealthy Amsterdam gunpowder manufacturer, Pieter Janszn van Hoorn and his wife Sara Bessels, a grandchild of Gerard Reynst. As the gunpowder trade was no longer doing so well, his influential friends got him named as Counsellor-extraordinary (Raad extraordinair) to the Dutch Council of the Indies. The whole family left for the Indies in 1663, including Joan.

In 1665, when he was still only 12 years old, Joan van Hoorn was already Under-assistant (onder-assistant) in the Dutch East India Company (VOC). From July 1666 until January 1668, he accompanied his father on a mission to China, where he was received by the Kangxi Emperor. Thereafter, Van Hoorn made rapid progress in his career. He became Assistant (assistent) in 1671, Underbuyer (onderkoopman) in 1673, Buyer (koopman) and First Clerk to the general secretarial function in 1676. He was made Secretary to the High Government (Hoge Regering) of the Indies in 1678. On 11 August 1682 he became Counsellor-extraordinary to the Council of the Indies. In that same year he was sent on a visit to Bantam. He was also named President of the Weeskamer (overseeing the estates of orphans, etc.). In 1684, he became President of the College van Heemraden (looking after land boundaries, roads, etc.). A further visit to Bantam took place in 1685, following which he was named full Counsellor (Raad ordinair) of the Indies.

In 1691 Van Hoorn married Anna Struis. They had a daughter, Petronella Wilhelmina. She later married Jan Trip, the Mayor’s son. A later marriage saw Petronella married to the extremely wealthy Lubbert Adolf Torck, Lord of Roozendael.

Van Hoorn became Director-General in 1691. In this post, he completely reorganised the Company’s administration. Following the death of his wife, he remarried, in 1692, this time to Susanna, the daughter of the then Governor-General Willem van Outhoorn. He himself was named, on 20 September 1701, as Governor-General in succession to his father-in-law. However, he declined to accept the post until three other high officials (Mattheus de Haan, Hendrick Zwaardecroon and de Roo), nominated by him, were admitted to the High Government of the Indies. He did this as he had no faith in the existing Council. The Seventeen Lords (Heren XVII) acceded to this demand and on 15 August 1704, Joan van Hoorn accepted the post of Governor General.

The early years of Joan van Hoorn’s term of office were marked by the war then raging – the First Javanese War of Succession (1704 – 1708) . At first the Company wanted to stay out of the conflict, but eventually they had to take sides. In 1705, Joan van Hoorn concluded an agreement with Mataram, which ceded West Java to the Company. Joan van Hoorn experimented with coffee plantation. Prices were determined by the merchants at Mocha so to do something about this, the Company tried growing coffee in other regions. Subsequently, there was great expansion of coffee growing, especially in the Priangan uplands near Batavia.

1705

Tuanku Panglima Gandar Wahid lahir dikerajaan deli.

On 16 November 1706,

following the death of Susanna, Van Hoorn re-married, this time to Joanna Maria van Riebeeck, oldest daughter of the then Director-General Abraham van Riebeeck. She was also the widow of Gerard de Heere, who had been Counsellor of the Indies and Governor of Ceylon. A son was born on 2 February 1708, but he died shortly afterwards.

On 2 March 1708,

Joan van Hoorn’s request to leave post was granted. On 30 October 1709, he handed over the post to his father-in-law Abraham van Riebeeck. Despite his further request to remain in the Indies, he was recalled to the Netherlands, as Commander of the returning fleet. He bought a very pleasant house on the Herengracht in Amsterdam. The Heren XVII presented him with a gold chain and medallion. He died six months following his return on 21 February 1711. He was buried in the evening, as was then the fashion.

Christoffel van Swoll

He was born in 1663 in Amsterdam. On 19 December 1683, he left for Batavia on board the Juffrouw Anna as an assistant in the service of the Dutch East India Company. He arrived in Batavia on 19 June 1664 and began working in the General Secretariat. He was regularly promoted. In 1686 he was promoted to Accountant, in 1690 to First Clerk to the General Secretariat, and in 1691 to Buyer. In 1696, he was appointed as Secretary to the High Government (de Hoge Regering). In 1700 he became Raad extra-ordinair (Counsellor extraordinary) and President of the College van Weesmeesteren (an orpanage). In 1701 he was named Raad ordinair van Indië (Full Counsellor of the Indies). On 3 May 1703 he became President of the College van Schepenen (Aldermen) at Batavia. Following the death of Governor-General Abraham van Riebeeck, the Council (Raad) chose van Swoll, by a slim majority, as Governor-General (on 17 November 1713). This proposal was sent to the 17 Lords of the Indies (de Heren XVII) on 18 May 1714 who confirmed his appointment in 1715, despite his difficulty character. His honesty was the deciding factor in those times of corruption and maladministration.

As Governor-General, he put a lot of energy into dealing with the private, or unofficial, trade. In this he was not really successful. In general, there was nothing particularly remarkable about his time in office. He was no great promoter of development, such as extending coffee farming. He was also against extending the territory of the Company, because he thought it would then become ungovernable.He suddenly dropped the price the Chinese got for tea by a third. The result was that the trade in tea (and porcelain) collapsed for years.

Four years after his provisional appointment as Governor-General, he died in Batavia on 12 November 1718. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Cross (Kruiskerk). His successor was named as Hendrick Zwaardecroon.

Hendrick Zwaardecroon

Zwaardecroon left for the East Indies as a midshipman aboard the Purmer in December 1684 and arrived in Batavia in October 1685. During the trip he had several times been employed as secretary to Commissioner-General Van Rheede, which enabled him to make quick progress in his career with the Dutch East India Company (VOC). In 1686 he became Bookkeeper (boekhouder) and subsequently Underbuyer (onderkoopman). In 1694, he was promoted to Buyer (koopman) and in 1694 to Senior Buyer (opperkoopman). In the same year he was appointed Commander (commandeur) in Jafnapatham in Ceylon. He was Commissioner (commissaris) on the Malabar Coast and acting Governor of Ceylon in 1697. He became, in 1703, Secretary to the High Government of the Indies (Hoge Regering) in Batavia, and in 1704, through the influence of the Governor-General, Joan van Hoorn, an extraordinary member of the Dutch Council of the Indies (Raad van de Indië). Through that membership, and later because the Governor-General Christoffel van Swoll had been trying to get him removed from the Council, preferably by promotion elsewhere, it took until 1715 before the Seventeen Lords (Heren XVII) named him as full member (gewoon lid).

The day after the death of Christoffel van Swoll, on 12 November 1718, Zwaardecroon was named Governor-General. Only on 10 September 1720, was he confirmed in this post. His dismissal, by his own desire, came on 16 October 1724, though he handed the actual office to Mattheus de Haan only on 8 July 1725.

During his term of office, Zwaardecroon had to deal with a lot of unrest in Batavia, including arson in the dockyards and an attack on the gunpowder stores. The wealthy Pieter Eberveld, had inherited some land from his father. The government laid claim to a part of this estate. Eberveld planned an attack on the Dutchmen but some of his slaves warned the government and the attack was thwarted. He confessed on the rack and was condemned to death, along with other plotters. His house was destroyed and a wall erected around where it had stood.[1] His head was stuck on a lance and attached to the wall. A stone with an inscription was erected, indicating that never again would anything be built on that spot. [2] It was only removed during the Japanese occupation (World War II).

Zwaardecrood had always had a great interest in developing new products. He encouraged coffee-planting in Priangan in Java so that coffee production grew quickly. From 1723, the whole of the harvest had to be delivered to the Company. Then Zwaardecroon introduced silk production into Java as well as the production of vegetable dyes. Silk production was not so successful. In 1772 he re-established the Chinese tea trade, which had been disrupted.

In 1719, Pakubuwono I of Kartasura in East Java died and was succeeded by his son, Amangkurat IV. Two of his brothers did not recognise his succession and rose in revolt, attacking Kartasura. This was repulsed by the Dutch occupying troops, but Zwaardecroon felt himself compelled to send more troops to East Java. The revolt was put down by 1723, but it took until 1752 until real peace was restored in the area. (Second Javanese War of Succession 1719 – 1723 [3]). Zwaardecroon took action against private traders, and thus got better relations with local Company top shareholders (Bewindhouders). In 1726, he had 26 Company servants brought to Batavia on charges of corruption.

Zwaardecroon died on 12 August 1738 in his estate at Kaduang near Batavia. He said he felt more at home with ordinary townsfolk, and so at his request he was not buried with his predecessors as Governor-General, but in the graveyard of the Portuguese Church Outside the Walls at Batavia (Portuguese Buitenkerk) in Batavia, where his grave can still be visited

Mattheus de Haan

He was born in Dordrecht in 1663. On 26 October 1671 he left for the Indies, where his father had been appoined as Underbuyer (onderkoopman) in the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He then quickly went through posts in the lower levels of that organisation in Dutch Suratte. There, in 1676, he was made Provisional Assistant (provisioneel assistent), and in 1681 he became assistent. He became Bookkeeper (boekhouder) in 1683, and, in 1685, onderkoopman (Underbuyer/Undermerchant). Ten years later, in 1695, he was promoted to Buyer/Merchant (koopman). The next year he had to move to Batavia, to take up the post of Second Senior Buyer (tweede opperkoopman) in the Company’s headquarters there. Two years later, in 1698, he was promoted to First Senior Buyer (eerste opperkoopman). He became Secretary (secretaris) to the High Government of the Indies in 1700 and, in 1702, Vice-President of the Council of Justice. He was made a Counsellor-extraordinary (Raad extraordinair) of the Dutch Council of the Indies in 1704. He was then appointed President of the College van Schepenen in 1705. Five years later, he was made full Counsellor of the Indies and in 1722 he became Director-General. On 16 October 1724 he was nominated Governor-General, taking over from Henrick Zwaardecroon on 8 July 1725.

Characteristic of his time in office was his opposition Zwaardecroon’s encouragement of silk cultivation. Coffee production in the de Preanger region (the Prianganfr:Priangan uplands to the south of Batavia) went enormously well and de Haan felt that this would lead to a decline in coffee prices in Europe, so he lowered the prices paid to the coffee farmers. Their response was to chop down some of the coffee plantations. This was not what was intended, and De Haan forbade it. Meanwhile, there was further heavy damage to the production of coffee. Coffee from Java went mainly to Europe. They never managed to get into the Asian market. Coffee from Mocha took off there, as did the Arabic coffee of the English. No action was taken against this. The English also began to play a more important role in the cotton and tea trade.

Following a very unremarkable term in office (De Haan had all his life been more interested in repose than in action), the Governor-General died, after lying ill for three days, on 1 June 1729. He was buried in Batavia and was followed as Governor-General by Diederik Durven.

Diederik Durven

Durven studied Law at Leiden University where he graduated in 19 July 1702. He became an advocate in Delft in 1704. In 1705, he was nominated as a member of the Council of Justice at Batavia in the Indies. He left for Batavia on the “Grimmestein” on the 4 January 1706. In 1706, he arrived in Batavia. After his appointment in 1720 to the Council of the Indies, he was sent, in 1722 and 1723, to supervise the gold- and silver-mines in Parang province. Subsequently, he became(in 1723) chairman of the College van Heemraden (i.e. drainage board, comparable to a polder board in the Dutch Republic), which was responsible for the management of land outside the city, including supervision of boundaries. He later become President of the Council of Justice – the supreme court of Dutch Asia. In 1729, Mattheus de Haan died. Diederik Durven succeeded him as provisional Governor-General. This did not last long, as the Directors of the East India Company were very impatient of the speed of change there. Following alleged financial misbehaviour, though more probably as a scapegoat, he was dismissed on 9 October 1731. Diederik Durven died in the Netherlands on 26 February 1740. He was succeeded by Dirck van Cloon.

Dirck van Cloon

He was born in Batavia sometime in 1684. For his education and training he was sent to the Netherlands. He graduated in Law at Leiden University on 1 April 1707.

He returned he to Batavia on the clipper ‘Donkervliet’ and spent some time in Dutch Coromandel. He was among other things a district overseer in Sadraspatnam. He got into a fight with the governor of Coromandel, Adriaan de Visser, who accused Van Cloon of delivering bad quality goods. The government in Batavia sent Van Cloon back to the Netherlands, but he persuaded the Directors of the Dutch East India Company that de Visser was not to be trusted. Van Cloon was reinstated and he left for the Indies on 4 November 1719 on board the ‘van de Huis te Assenburg’ as Supercargo. In 1720, he became district chief at Negapatnam. In 1723, he became Governor of Dutch Coromandel. In 1724, he returned to Batavia to advise the Governor-General and in 1730, he became “Raad-ordinair” (chief advisor) of the Indies.

On the 9th of October 1731 the Directors of the Dutch East India Company named Dirck van Cloon Governor-General of the Indies, to which he succeed on 28 May 1732, following the disgrace of Diederik Durven. By 20 December 1733 van Cloon was asking to resign because of sickness. He died in post, however, and it was not until after he had died that his successor took over. Van Cloon was involved in a stand-off with the nascent Swedish East India Company, but he resolved it amicably. Less happy was an insurrection of unemployed Chinese sugar plantation workers. This was caused by the collapse of the sugar market, due to over-production and government mishandling.

Patras first took a job in the offices of an Amsterdam merchant named Nathaniël Gauthier (a fellow Huguenot), but he left for the Indies aboard the Hobree on 4 January 1690, where he is described as a soldier in the employ of the Enkhuizen branch of the Dutch East India Company. In 1691, he sought a change of career and got a temporary post as an agent in Batavia. In 1695 he became assistant/secretary to the Chinese estates-management administration in Ambon Island. In 1698 he was put in charge of children and matrimonial matters. He married in 1699 to a daughter of an official of the Judicial Council in Ambon. His wife died on the 16 December 1700. His only daughter also died young.

Patras was nominated to the Council of Justice in 1700, and in 1703, he went to work as under-secretary (onderkoopman) for the Governor of the Moluccas Islands. In 1707, he became the Head (opperhoofd) of the trading post at Jambi, where his headquarters were attacked. Although severely wounded in the back, he survived. He was merchant, then Chief Factor in Palembang in 1711. In 1717, he was promoted to Chief Merchant (opperkoopman) and Office holder (gezaghebber) of the west coast of Sumatra. It was 1720 that saw him promoted to Inspector General of Accounts for the Dutch East Indies (visitateur-generaal van Nederlands-Indië). In 1721, he was sent as an envoy to Jambi. In 1722, he was appointed deputee-overseer of goods coming in and out of the castle at Batavia. In 1724, he got the very lucrative post of Head of the Dutch Bengal trading post. In 1731, he was appointed as extraordinary (i.e. co-opted) member of the Council of the Indies.

On the 10 March 1735 on the death of Governor-General Dirck van Cloon, Patras very surprisingly was nominated Governor-General. He had never been a full member of the Council of the Indies, so this was a first, and was caused by him slipping through as a compromise candidate following a stalemate in the voting. He was not keen to take on the post in these circumstances, but agreed to do so until a better candidate could be found. On 11 March 1735 he was nominated interim Governor-General, a decision which was approved by the Directors of the East India Company.

During his short period of office, no significant decisions were made. Although he was a competent leader and had built up a great deal of practical knowledge of the territories, his age (at 64) probably ensured that he was not a very powerful Governor-General.

He died two years after his appointment during the night of 3 May 1737. He was buried in Batavia on 6 May 1737. He was a pious and good-hearted man who had lived a very modest life. The governor-generalship was taken over by Adriaan Valckenier.\\

Valckenier’s father, an alderman and secretary in Amsterdam, was an official of the Dutch East India Company based in Amsterdam. He was the son to Gillis Valckenier, one of the great regents of Amsterdam during the later Dutch Golden Age. On 22 October 1714, Adriaan left on board the ‘Linschoten’ to be assistant buyer (onderkoopman) in the Dutch East Indies, where he arrived on 21 June 1715 at Batavia.

In 1726, he became merchant and chief buyer (opperkoopman); in 1727 he was “Accountant General” (boekhouder-generaal) of the Dutch Indies; in 1730, he was first appointed to the Council of the Indies (Raad extra-oridinair), and, in 1733, as a full “Councillor”. In 1736, he was made “First Councillor” and “Director-General”, but was beaten to the post of Governor General by Abraham Patras. On the latter’s death, he was named Governor General by the Council of the Indies on 3 May 1737.

It was during the rule of Adriaan Valckenier that the notorious slaughter of Chinese took place in Batavia (the so-called Chinese Massacre). A previous Governor General (Henricus Zwaardecroon) had encouraged many Chinese to come to Batavia. Something between 20% and 50% of the population were Chinese. They worked in the construction of the houses and fortifications of Batavia and on the sugar plantations outside the city. Many Chinese merchants also took a leading, if (from the Dutch point of view) illegal, role in the trade with China. From 1725 the sugar trade began to collapse (partly because of competition from Brazil).[citation needed] Unemployment in the countryside grew, and along with that, unrest. This spread to Batavia as unemployed Chinese left the countryside to seek work or food relief there. The authorities were alarmed at this and began issuing residence permits, and requiring those with permits to live in specific areas. Unrest grew to a full scale insurrection in the countryside in September 1740, when the Dutch had suggested transporting unemployed Chinese to other Dutch colonies in Ceylon and South Africa. A rumour spread that they would all be thrown overboard en route, and riots in the countryside exploded

The Dutch authorities were afraid that the Chinese within Batavia were collaborating with the insurrection and, over the 9 and 10 October, brutal searches were made of Chinese areas, in which many thousands were killed, often after having been arrested. This “massacre” lasted three days, followed by many more days of looting and arson, with no obvious attempt on the government’s part to stop the violence. One estimate is that between 5,000 and 10,000 Chinese (men, women and children) were killed in total

Johannes Thedens

Thedens, born in a largely Dutch settlement in Schleswig-Holstein, sailed on 17 December 1697 as a soldier aboard the ‘’’Unie’’’ to the Dutch East Indies. In 1702 he was appointed to the post of ‘’’Assistant’’’ in the Dutch East India Company and in 1719, to ‘’’Buyer’’’ (‘’’koopman’’’). He then progressed (between 1723 and 1725) up through the ranks to ‘’’Chief Buyer’’’ (‘’’opperkoopman’’’) then ‘’’Head of Post’’’ (opperhoofd) at Deshima in Japan.[1]

In 1731, he was co-opted to the Council of the Indies and in 1736, he was made a full member (‘’’Raad-ordinair of Indie’’’). In 1740 he was appointed by the Directors as a ‘’’First Councillor and Director General’’’ of the Indies. On 6 November 1741, following the dismissal of Adriaan Valckenier, (whom he had arrested and placed in prison in the castle at Batavia), he became ‘’’interim’’’ Governor General . He continued in office up to 28 May 1743, and was able to overcome the Chinese insurrection and put the sugar trade on a better footing. He was succeeded by Gustaaf Willem baron van Imhoff.

Jacob Mossel ruled the Indies during a period in which things got steadily worse for the Dutch East India Company. He made may economies and he ended the war in Bantam Province,recognising that his predecessor had handled things badly. The Dutch were threatened by the expansion of the British East India Company. In the battle for Bengal, Mossel lost to the British. Mossel was a supporter of the policy to allow private entrepreneurs to trade for themselves in the territory of the Indies. This concerned small scale trading in which the Company could make no profit. Following that, Batavia/Jakarta underwent a period of growth, which, because of his successors tax regulations, came to nothing. The Company was plagued by corruption and self-interest among its office holders. Jacob Mossel was also involved in this. His great fortune could not in any case have been put together from his official salary. The initiatives he took against corruption were not very effective. To curb exaggerated displays of wealth, in 1754 he brought in a so-called “Regulation against pomp and splendour”, which tried to lay down exactly what wealth an officer could display. These details went from the number of buttonholes they could have to the size of their houses. Of course, the regulations did not apply to himself, and there was great feasting at his daughter’s wedding. After his death at Batavia/Jakarta, from a wasting disease, he was given a magnificent funeral

Petrus Albertus van der Parra

Petrus Albertus van der Parra was born in Colombo, the son of a Secretary to the government of Ceylon. His great-grandfather had come to India and the family had lived there ever since. In 1728, he began his career at fourteen years old. As everyone had to start as a soldier, he began as a “soldaat van de penne”, then became an “assistent” in 1731, and “boekhouder” (bookkeeper) in 1732. He had to move house in 1736 to take up a new job as “onderkoopman” (underbuyer/undermerchant), and at the same time “collectionist” (collector) and “boekhouder” to the General Secretary at Batavia/Jakarta. He became “koopman” (buyer/merchant) and “geheimschrijver” (secrets secretary) in 1739. He became Second Secretary to the High Government (Hoge Regering), becoming First Secretary in 1747. He became Counsellor-extraordinary of the Indies later that year (November) and in 1751 became a regular Counsellor. In 1752 he became President of the College van Heemraden (in charge of estate boundaries, roads, etc.). He was later a member of the “Schepenbank” (the local government and court in Batavia), a Regent (a board member) of the hospital and in 1755 he became First Counsellor and Director-General (Eerste Raad en Directeur-Generaal)

On 15 May 1761, following the death of Jacob Mossel he became Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. Confirmation of his appointment by the Heren XVII (the Seventeen Lords, who controlled the Dutch East India Company) came in 1762. He held a lavish inauguration on his birthday on 29 September. Subsequently, his birthday was a national holiday in the Indies. During his time as Governor-General, he overthrew the Prince of Kandy, in Ceylon, though with difficulty, and he conquered the sultanate of Siak in Sumatra. Contracts were entered into with various regional leaders in Bima, Soembawa, Dompo, Tambora, Sangar and Papekat. Apart from that, the rule of Van der Parra can be called weak. He favoured his friends and gave out well-paid posts if he could get anything in return for them. It was said he was a typical colonial ruler, idle, grumpy but generous to those who fawned upon him and recognised his greatness. It was a golden time for the preachers in Batavia, who got gifts, translations of the New Testament and scholarships from Van der Parra. They worshipped and eulogised him. Although the Heren XVII knew about his behaviour, as five Counsellors had written to them about his pretentions to kingly behaviour, they did nothing about it.

After over fourteen years in power, he died on 28 September 1775 in Weltevreden, the imposing palace built for him outside Batavia/Jakarta. (See images at [3] and [4]). He apparently left a great deal of his fortune to the widows of Colombo and a smaller part to the poor of Batavia ([5]) He was followed as Governor by Jeremias van Riemsdijk

Jeremias van Riemsdijk

Jeremias van Riemsdijk was born on 18 October 1712 in Utrecht, the son to Scipio van Riemsdijk, the minister of Bunnik near Houten, and Johanna Bogaert. He entered into service with the Dutch East India Company as a sergeant left for the Indies, aboard the van de Proostwijk, on 25 February 1735. Very shortly after his arrival in Batavia/Jakarta on 14 September 1735, he entered the civil (as opposed to military) service. Jeremias was the nephew of the future Governor-General Adriaan Valckenier (1737-1741), who at the time was still a member of the Council of the Indies. H could therefore expect to make rapid progress in his career. In 1736 he became onderkoopman (underbuyer/undermerchant), in 1738 koopman (buyer/merchant), in 1740 tweede opperkoopman (second upperbuyer/uppermerchant) and in 1742 eerste opperkoopman (first upperbuyer/uppermerchant) in the castle headquarters at Batavia/Jakarta. In 1743 he became the chief (kapitein) of the company of clerical/writing staff (pennisten) and in October Jeremias van Riemsdijk was named Counsellor-extraordinary (Raad extra-ordinaier) to the Council of the Indies. In 1759 he was appointed President of the College van Weesmeesters (dealing with the affairs of orphans, minors, etc.). On 15 October 1760 he was named ordinary Counsellor (Raad ordinair) and on 17 August 1764 Director-General.

On 28 December 1775, following the death of Petrus Albertus van der Parra, Van Riemsdijk was chosen as Governor-General. He had had at the time five marriages, to leading Eurasian ladies. He had learned a lot from the eleven years he had worked with his predecessor, whose great appetite for money he had acquired. During his term in office, there was a shortage of ships and ship personnel. This problem was solved with help from the homeland. However, shortly after his governorship had begun, Jeremias van Riemsdijk died in Batavia/Jakarta. He was followed as Governor-General by Reynier de Klerck

Reynier de Klerck

De Klerk’s date of birth is not known but he was baptised on 19 November 1710 in Middelburg. He worked as midshipman aboard the Kamer van Zeeland, a warship, whose duty was to protect the routes of homeward bound cargo ships. He made two trips to India as a sailor in the service of the Dutch East India Company. In December 1730, he left permanently for India aboard the t Vliegend Hert.

Between 1735 and 1737 he was the pilot aboard a small ship which traded to and fro between Batavia and Padang. In 1737 he became an accountant (boekhouder) with the Dutch East India Company, and so began for him a life on land. In 1738, he was onderkoopman and resident (underbuyer/undermerchant and resident) in Lampung. In 1741 he was a secretary with the army on Java. In 1742 he became Chief in Surabaya and in 1744 koopmand en eerste administrateur (buyer/merchant and first administrator) in Semarang. In 1747, he was named opperkoopmand en tweede bestuurder (upperbuyer/uppermerchant and second in charge) of Java’s Northeast Coast. In 1748 he became Governor and Director of Banda. He moved to Batavia/Jakarta in 1754 when he was made president of the College van Boedelmeesteren der Chinesche en andere onchristelijke sterfhuizen (which looked after Chinese and other non-Christian burial facilities) for Batavia. In October 1754, Reynier de Klerck was installed as Counsellor-extraordinary of the Indies, and in 1762 was appointed as Counsellor in the Dutch Council of the Indies. In 1775 he became acting Director-General, being named actual Director-General in 1776.

On 4 October 1777, the day after the death of Governor-General Jeremias van Riemsdijk, he was unanimously chosen as Governor-General. He took up the official functions of the post one year later, 9 October 1778. Reynier de Klerck was a hardworking governor. He was a powerful reformer, who however could not realise all his ideas. He was very committed to bringing Dutch culture to the Indies. Thus he wanted to replace PortugueseandMalay with Dutch in the education system. His endeavours failed however because the local population did not want this. During his term of office, few important happenings occurred. A conflict in the Celebes was brought to an end by occupying Gowa, while the Sultan of BantamLandak and Batjan gave way to the Dutch East India Company. To preserve the spice monopoly, the Princes of Tidore and Batjan were deposed and sent into exile to Batavia. They were replaced by puppets of the Company.

Willem Arnold Alting

Alting was born in Groningen on 11 November 1724. He studied in his hometown and graduated in law.

He left on 18 October 1750 for the Indies on board the de Middelburg as an onderkoopman (underbuyer/undermerchant) for the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He spent the rest of his life in the Indies. In 1754 he became koopman (buyer/merchant) and in 1759 First Secretary to the government. In 1763 he became Counsellor-extraordinary (Buitengewoon Raad) and in 1772 full Counsellor (Raad ordinaris). In 1777 he became First Counsellor (Eerste Raad) was named Director-General.

From March 1780 he was acting Governor-General, because of the sickness of his predecessor, Reynier de Klerck. Following the death of de Klerck, on 1 September 1780 he was chosen by the Dutch Council of the Indies as provisional Governor-General. He carried on this function for seventeen years.

De Klerck had wanted to bring the use of Dutch into the educational system, but Alting revoked this in 1786, so that Malay and Portuguese were once again used. Alting’s term of office was marked by a steep decline of the Dutch East India Company and its power in the Indies. Three months after he took up post, the Netherlands went to war with Britain (1780 – 1784) and a great part of the territory of the Dutch East India Company was occupied by the British. The government in Batavia/Jakarta did not, on the whole, offer much resistance. By the Peace of Paris (1784), Britain obtained the right to unhindered trade in the East Indies. The Dutch had to cede Negapatam in India to the British. The image of the Dutch in the eyes of the local rulers was thoroughly shattered.

From the Netherlands, three Commissioners-General were sent to work with Alting to reorganise. On the way there, one of them died and Alting managed to get his son-in-law Johannes Siberg to take his place. The Alting/Siberg duo dominated the Commission and, from the reports of one of the other Commissioners, it seems they worked very hard in their own interests. The Commission cost a lot of money but brought no improvement. In 1795, it became known in Batavia/Jakarta that their homeland (in the meantime having become the Batavian Republic) was once again at war with Britain.

On 17 February 1797, Willem Arnold Alting resigned as Governor-General and Commissioner-General and handed the post over to Pieter Gerardus van Overstraten. Alting remained as an ordinary citizen, without official position, living on his estate at Kampong Melajoe near Batavia/Jakarta. He died there on 7 June 1800

Mataram’s period of dominance was brief. Sultan Agung’s brutality in eliminating potential opposition was exceeded by that of his successor, Amangkurat I, who soon alienated a large part of the Javanese elite. Full-scale rebellion broke out in 1675, led by a disaffected prince of Madura named Trunojoyo, who was in league both with Makasar refugees from southern Sulawesi and with the crown prince, Amangkurat’s son. The rebellion began in the coastal regions which had felt the brunt of Mataram’s hostility to trade, but quickly found support in the interior after Trunojoyo defeated the Mataram forces at Gogodog in 1676 and, abandoning the crown prince, declared himself king.

Mataram would certainly have fallen but for the fact that the VOC, fearing the rise of a new, assertive dynasty on Java, gave military support to Mataram in exchange for territorial and trading concessions. In 1678, after Amangkurat I had died and the crown prince had been installed as Amangkurat II, Dutch troops marched into eastern Java to begin a three-year campaign alongside Mataram forces which destroyed the rebel armies. The intervention established the VOC as the single most powerful military force in Java, gave it hegemony over a large hinterland south and east of Batavia, as well as control of the enclave of Semarang, and reduced the power and territory of Banten.

The Ommelanden fell under the authority of a ‘delegate for native affairs’, responsible to the Governor-General in Batavia, but for the most part they were left to their own devices under a system of private estates (particuliere landerijen), whose landlords had quasi-feudal rights over their tenants. The granting of private estates continued into the early 18th century, by which time they encompassed virtually the whole of the northern coastal plain of West Java. The region was fertile and productive, sugar, rice and cotton being the main crops, but it was also unruly: small-scale landlords and entrepreneurs squeezed their tenants for what they could, and the tenants in turn simmered constantly on the threshold of revolt or brigandage.

18th Century

1702.

Under these circumstances he was induced to resign the government in 1702, and died about a month after his abdication.

Perkasa-alum, a priest, found means by his intrigues to acquire the sovereignty, and one of his first acts was to attempt imposing certain duties on the merchandise imported by English traders, who had been indulged with an exemption from all port charges excepting the established complimentary presents upon their arrival and receiving the chap or licence. This had been stipulated in the treaty made by Sir James Lancaster, and renewed by Mr. Grey when chief of the Company’s factory. The innovation excited an alarm and determined opposition on the part of the masters of ships then at the place, and they proceeded (under the conduct of Captain Alexander Hamilton, who published an account of his voyage in 1727) to the very unwarrantable step of commencing hostilities by firing upon the villages situated near the mouth of the river, and cutting off from the city all supplies of provisions by sea. The inhabitants, feeling severely the effects of these violent measures, grew clamorous against the government, which was soon obliged to restore to these insolent traders the privileges for which they contended.

1704.

Advantage was taken of the public discontents to raise an insurrection in favour of the nephew of the late queen, or, according to the Annals, the son of Beder al-alum (who was probably her brother), in the event of which Perkasa-alum was deposed about the commencement of the year 1704, and after an interregnum or anarchy of three months continuance, the young prince obtained possession of the throne, by the name of Jemal al-alum. From this period the native writers furnish very ample details of the transactions of the Achinese government, as well as of the general state of the country, whose prosperous circumstances during the early part of this king’s reign are strongly contrasted with the misery and insignificance to which it was reduced by subsequent events. The causes and progress of this political decline cannot be more satisfactorily set forth than in a faithful translation of the Malayan narrative which was drawn up, or extracted from a larger work, for my use, and is distinct from the Annals already mentioned:

When raja Jemal al-alum reigned in Achin the country was exceedingly populous, the nobles had large possessions, the merchants were numerous and opulent, the judgments of the king were just, and no man could experience the severity of punishment but through his own fault. In those days the king could not trade on his own account, the nobles having combined to prevent it; but the accustomed duties of the port were considered as his revenue, and ten per cent was levied for this purpose upon all merchandise coming into the country. The city was then of great extent, the houses were of brick and stone. The most considerable merchant was a man named Daniel, a Hollander; but many of different nations were also settled there, some from Surat, some from Kutch, others from China. When ships arrived in the port, if the merchants could not take off all the cargoes the king advanced the funds for purchasing what remained, and divided the goods among them, taking no profit to himself. After the departure of the vessel the king was paid in gold the amount of his principal, without interest.

His daily amusements were in the grounds allotted for the royal sports. He was attended by a hundred young men, who were obliged to be constantly near his person day and night, and who were clothed in a sumptuous manner at a monthly expense of a hundred dollars for each man. The government of the different parts of the country was divided, under his authority, amongst the nobles. When a district appeared to be disturbed he took measures for quelling the insurrection; those who resisted his orders he caused to be apprehended; when the roads were bad he gave directions for their repair. Such was his conduct in the government. His subjects all feared him, and none dared to condemn his actions. At that time the country was in peace.

When he had been a few years on the throne a country lying to the eastward, named Batu Bara, attempted to throw off its subjection to Achin. The chiefs were ordered to repair to court to answer for their conduct, but they refused to obey. These proceedings raised the king’s indignation. He assembled the nobles and required of them that each should furnish a vessel of war, to be employed on an expedition against that place, and within two months, thirty large galleys, without counting vessels of a smaller size, were built and equipped for sea. When the fleet arrived off Batu Bara (by which must be understood the Malayan district at the mouth of the river, and not the Batta territory through which it takes its course), a letter was sent on shore addressed to the refractory chiefs, summoning them to give proof of their allegiance by appearing in the king’s presence, or threatening the alternative of an immediate attack. After much division in their councils it was at length agreed to feign submission, and a deputation was sent off to the royal fleet, carrying presents of fruit and provisions of all kinds. One of the chiefs carried, as his complimentary offering, some fresh coconuts, of the delicate species called kalapa-gading, into which a drug had been secretly introduced. The king observing these directed that one should be cut open for him, and having drunk of the juice, became affected with a giddiness in his head. (This symptom shows the poison to have been the upas, but too much diluted in the liquor of the nut to produce death). Being inclined to repose, the strangers were ordered to return on shore, and, finding his indisposition augment, he gave directions for being conveyed back to Achin, whither his ship sailed next day. The remainder of the fleet continued off the coast during five or six days longer, and then returned likewise without effecting the reduction of the place, which the chiefs had lost no time in fortifying.

About two years after this transaction the king, under pretence of amusement, made an excursion to the country lying near the source of the river Achin, then under the jurisdiction of a panglima or governor named Muda Seti; for it must be understood that this part of the kingdom is divided into three districts, known by the appellations of the Twenty-two, Twenty-six, and Twenty-five Mukims (see above), which were governed respectively by Muda Seti, Imam Muda, and Perbawang­Shah (or Purba-wangsa). These three chiefs had the entire control of the country, and when their views were united they had the power of deposing and setting up kings. Such was the nature of the government. The king’s expedition was undertaken with the design of making himself master of the person of Muda Seti, who had given him umbrage, and on this occasion his followers of all ranks were so numerous that wherever they halted for the night the fruits of the earth were all devoured, as well as great multitudes of cattle. Muda Seti however, being aware of the designs against him, had withdrawn himself from the place of his usual residence and was not to be found when the king arrived there; but a report being brought that he had collected five or six hundred followers and was preparing to make resistance, orders were immediately given for burning his house. This being effected, the king returned immediately to Achin, leaving the forces that had accompanied him at a place called Pakan Badar, distant about half a day’s journey from the capital, where they were directed to entrench themselves. From this post they were driven by the country chief, who advanced rapidly upon them with several thousand men, and forced them to fall back to Padang Siring, where the king was collecting an army, and where a battle was fought soon after, that terminated in the defeat of the royal party with great slaughter. Those who escaped took refuge in the castle along with the king.

1699

In 1699, rebels from Landak joined forces with the Javanese state of Banten to conquer Sukadana. Banten’s domination of Sukadana was brief. With the help of Bugis mercenaries based in Banjarmasin, the sultan managed to recover his throne and Sukadana once more became the major trading power of the west coast.

Three years of confusion in the VOC ensue over the post of Governor-General. Sultan of Banjar tries to eject the British post by force, but fails.

1702

Amangkurat II sends a secret representative to the VOC, hoping for help in the face of court intrigues. Antonio Coelho Guerreiro arrives as the first official governor of Portuguese Timor. The Portuguese on Timor were limited to outposts along the northern coast only.

Although Dutch troops had preserved the Mataram dynasty, the kingdom was now a shadow of its former power. Territorial concessions to the Dutch in the west, creeping political influence by the Madurese along the coast, and a full-scale rebellion by Surapati in the east left it sadly truncated. Moreover, when Amangkurat II died in 1703, the Dutch backed his brother, Pangeran Puger, to succeed to the throne over Amangkurat’s son, Amangkurat III. In 1706, in what came to be called the First Javanese War of Succession, VOC forces with numerous indigenous allies marched on Kartasura and installed Puger as Pakubuwana I. Amangkurat III fled to join the former slave, Surapati, whose followers controlled much of Java’s eastern peninsula. Bitter fighting continued in which Surapati was killed and Amangkurat III captured by ruse and sent into exile. In exchange for VOC support, Pakubuwana ceded eastern Madura to the Dutch and gave them the right to build fortifications anywhere in Java.

The six decades which followed were a time of constant turmoil for Java. The descendants of Surapati maintained his kingdom south of the Brantas; further east, they fought with Balinese princes and with remnants of the kingdom of Balambangan for control of the eastern peninsula. The coastal regions from Surabaya to Juana remained under the influence of the powerful Cakraningrat family in western Madura, while the question of whether the VOC was Mataram’s greatest enemy or its best potential ally underpinned incessant factional conflict within the Mataram court

1705

VOC sends reinforcements to Semarang. Surapati offers to make a conditional surrender to the VOC, but the VOC rejects his offer. VOC bribes the commander of the troops at Kartasura, allowing them to take Salatiga and other approaches without significant resistance. VOC recognizes Pangeran Puger as Susuhunan Pakubuwono I.

1705:

Hussin Kamaluddin became Sultan of Brunei (period I) until the year 1730.

De Vossenbosch, Waaier and Nova Hollandia, 1705

Under the command of Commander Maarten van Delft, the de Vossenbosch, Waaier and Nova Hollandia explored the Gulf of Carpentaria and north coast of New Holland.

October 5:

Pakubuwono I makes a deal with the VOC: Mataram debts to VOC are wiped out; East Madura goes to VOC control; Semarang is officially a VOC city after years of occupation; Cirebon is officially a VOC protectorate; VOC gets extensive trade rights; Javanese sailors must stick to their home waters; Mataram must deliver rice on demand to the VOC at a price set by the VOC. In addition, the two sides agree that no other European nation will be allowed to build factories or fortifications anywhere on Java. October 11: Pakubuwono I signs an agreement to pay the costs of the VOC garrison at Kartasura.

1706

VOC and Mataram armies take Kediri, and defeat Amangkurat III and Surapati.

1706:

Britain allowed to set up factories in Banjar

1707

VOC and Pakubuwono I of Mataram battle the forces of Amangkurat III at Madiun, and take Pasuruan.

On June 27, 1707,

the British merchant settlements in Banjarmasin was suddenly attacked by the natives, most British people were killed, and the survivors fled to the ship. EIC company property lost in this place, estimated at $ 50,000. [29] The British were expelled from English-Banjar Banjar War II in 1707, so that Chinese people can be free again to enter into transactions with the merchants pepper Banjar and Biaju. The number of Chinese people who gathered in the area of ​​the Sultanate of Banjar increasingly composed of junk merchants and traders settled.

1708:

Omar Akamuddin I to the Sultan of Sambas until the year 1732

1708

VOC forces land at Surabaya to continue fighting against Amangkurat III. July 17 Amangkurat III surrenders himself at Surabaya, after receiving a false VOC promise of lands and freedom in exchange for surrender. August 24 Amangkurat III, his family and attendants are sent by ship from Surabaya to Batavia. At Batavia, he is told that the VOC representative at Surabaya had no authority to offer him terms of surrender. He is taken as a prisoner of war and sent to exile in Ceylon.

1708

Batavia 1708. Chinese Qing Ceramic Export for the Dutch

1710

VOC opens tin mines on Bangka. Around this time, many Bugis, who had been wandering as mercenaries or refugees due to the wars involving Makassar and Bone, began to settle on and around the Malay peninsula

1712

Pakubuwono I sends repeated requests to the VOC in Batavia for help against continuing unrest in Balambangan and Madura.

1712

THE SECOND GARRISON:
CHRONICLES OF FORT MALBOROUGH

In 1712, Joseph Collets wrote mail to the council proposed to build a new garrison in Carrang (probably refers to Ujung Karang). It is about three kilometers far from Fort York.

1714This fort was established in 1714-1719 by Joseph Collet (1712-16). The progress was continued by his successors: Thiophilus Shyllinge (1716-17), Richard Farmer (1717-18), and Thomas Cooke (1718-19).

Gravestone of Cap. James Cuney (moved from British Cemetery in Jitra)

1714

British begin building Fort Marlborough at Bengkulu. Sultan of Tidore cedes claim on Irian Jaya to VOC. After this time (especially after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, which ended 13 years of war between the European powers and their colonies) the Dutch and the VOC began to lose prominence, and Britain became the dominant colonial and naval power in the world.

1714

The fortification was under contruction for four year and was compled in its firts form in 1718

Due to the lack of a qualifed engineer the fort gradually fell into a state of decay and when joseph collet was appointend deputy Fovendor in 1712 he requested permission to abandon yort fort and to contruct a new fort on the ‘carang’, small hill about two mill from york and overlooking the bay. colet was eventually given permission to commace work on this new fotification in 1714. It was to be large enough to provide living accommodation for the factor and writers of the company and their servanst well as the militiary garrison. Joseph colled name his fort ‘marlboroug’ in honour of john Churhill, the firs Duke of marlborough, who wasbeing hailed as a national hero after winning a number of strategic battles in Erouppe against the friench and their allies.

———————————————————————————————–
Pland of the original fort 1714-1718
North

Al old print of FortMarlborough looking north towerd Gunung Bungkuk (Sugar loaf Mountain) Showing the lookout tower which was demolished towar the end of 1700s.

1717

VOC accuses the Adipati of Surabaya of collaborating with the rebels in eastern Java. The son of the Adipati of Surabaya, Jaya Puspita, leads a renewed rebellion against Mataram in the areas around Surabaya, Kediri, Probolinggo, Balambangan, and Madura, with help from Bali. The VOC organizes further reinforcements to counter the threat.

Amangkurat IV takes rule in Mataram. Court rebellion breaks out almost immediately; rebel princes flee eastward. A combined VOC and Mataram force drives the rebels back from Kediri to Malang.

Java, 1719

A Second War of Succession followed from 1719 to 1723, after the death of Pakubuwana I. His son, Amangkurat IV, again held his throne against rebel forces thanks only to VOC intervention. During the reign of Amangkurat IV’s son, Pakubuwana II, a further round of fighting broke out, eventually merging into the Third Javanese War of Succession. Although conflict had been endemic in the intervening years,

1721

Rumors of a conspiracy against the VOC spread in Batavia. Peter Erberfelt and several others are tried and executed.

1722

VOC receives a monopoly on tin from Bangka and Belitung from the Sultan of Palembang.

1723

Rebel princes and Surapati’s descendants in East Java are subdued by VOC forces. VOC begins compulsory coffee production in Priangan.

1723.

Under these disastrous circumstances he called upon the chiefs who adhered to him to advise what was best to be done, surrounded as they were by the country people, on whom he invoked the curse of God; when one of them, named Panglima Maharaja, gave it as his opinion that the only effectual measure by which the country could be saved from ruin would be the king’s withdrawing himself from the capital so long as the enemy should continue in its vicinity, appointing a regent from among the nobles to govern the country in his absence; and when subordination should be restored he might then return and take again possession of his throne. To this proposition he signified his assent on the condition that Panglima Maharaja should assure him by an oath that no treachery was intended; which oath was accordingly taken, and the king, having nominated as his substitute Maharaja Lela, one of the least considerable of the ulubalangs, retired with his wives and children to the country of the Four mukims, situated about three hours journey to the westward of the city. (The Annals say he fled to Pidir in November 1723.) Great ravages were committed by the insurgents, but they did not attack the palace, and after some days of popular confusion the chiefs of the Three districts, who (says the writer) must not be confounded with the officers about the person of the king, held a consultation amongst themselves, and, exercising an authority of which there had been frequent examples, set up Panglima Maharaja in the room of the abdicated king (by the title, say the Annals, of Juhar al-alum, in December 1723). About seven days after his elevation he was seized with a convulsive disorder in his neck and died. A nephew of Jemal al-alum, named Undei Tebang, was then placed upon the throne, but notwithstanding his having bribed the chiefs of the Three districts with thirty katties of gold, they permitted him to enjoy his dignity only a few days, and then deposed him. (The same authority states that he was set up by the chiefs of the Four mukims, and removed through the influence of Muda Seti.)

1724. 1735.

The person whom they next combined to raise to the throne was Maharaja Lela (before mentioned as the king’s substitute). It was his good fortune to govern the country in tranquillity for the space of nearly twelve years, during which period the city of Achin recovered its population. (According to the Annals he began to reign in February 1724, by the title of Ala ed-din Ahmed shah Juhan, and died in June 1735.) It happened that the same day on which the event of his death took place Jemal al-alum again made his appearance, and advanced to a mosque near the city. His friends advised him to lose no time in possessing himself of the castle, but for trifling reasons that mark the weakness of his character he resolved to defer the measure till the succeeding day; and the opportunity, as might be expected, was lost. The deceased king left five sons, the eldest of whom, named Po-chat-au (or Po-wak, according to another manuscript) exhorted his brothers to unite with him in the determination of resisting a person whose pretensions were entirely inconsistent with their security. They accordingly sent to demand assistance of Perbawang-shah, chief of the district of the Twenty-five mukims, which lies the nearest to that quarter. He arrived before morning, embraced the five princes, confirmed them in their resolution, and authorised the eldest to assume the government (which he did, say the Annals, by the title of Ala ed-din Juhan-shah in September 1735.) But to this measure the concurrence of the other chiefs was wanting. At daybreak the guns of the castle began to play upon the mosque, and, some of the shot penetrating its walls, the pusillanimous Jemal al-alum, being alarmed at the danger, judged it advisable to retreat from thence and to set up his standard in another quarter, called kampong Jawa, his people at the same time retaining possession of the mosque. A regular warfare now ensued between the two parties and continued for no less than ten years (the great chiefs taking different sides), when at length some kind of compromise was effected that left Po-chat-au (Juhan­shah) in the possession of the throne, which he afterwards enjoyed peaceably for eight years, and no further mention is made of Jemal al-alum. About this period the chiefs took umbrage at his interfering in matters of trade, contrary to what they asserted to be the established custom of the realm, and assembled their forces in order to intimidate him. (The history of Achin presents a continual struggle between the monarch and the aristocracy of the country, which generally made the royal monopoly of trade the ground of crimination and pretext for their rebellions).

1723

Further north, Acehnese power recovered somewhat, but the more significant power was the sultan of Siak Sri Indrapura, a state founded in 1723, which had extended its hegemony northwards as far as Tamiang by 1780.

1724:

Government of the Kingdom of Matan / Sukadana by Sultan Ma’aziddin (1724-1762)

In Cirebon, the Dutch preserved an unusual arrangement in which the heads of two related families, Kanoman and Kesupuhan, both carried the hereditary rank and powers of sultan. The upland regions to the south were incorporated into the Priangan System, but the sultans retained extensive powers in the lowlands, where they farmed their estates out to Chinese entrepreneurs, with miserable consequences for the peasants. Cirebon was the scene of repeated famine and uprising in the late 18th century

1730:

Mohammad Alauddin became the Sultan of Brunei until the year 1745.
1731:

Amir Wira Bulungan I became ruler until the year 1777. Amiril Pengiran Dipati II served Tidung ruler until 1765.
1732:

Abubakar I to the Sultan of Sambas Kamaluddin until the year 1762. The Sultanate’s capital was moved from the Kutai Kutai Lama to Pemarangan.

1733:

A warlord’s men attacked the La Madukelleng Banjarmasin but failed.
1733: Puana Dekke Bugis leaders borrowed land to Sultan Banjar Tahlilullah to establish settlements in Pagatan with a population that became known as the Bugis Pagatan. [31]
1734:

Sultan Banjar Tamjidillah I to XII until the year 1759.
1735: Sultan Aji Muhammad Idris Kukar XIV became King until the year 1778. He is the King of Kutai first took the title of Sultan.
1736: Sultan Alam Sepuh I became Sultan Paser II until the year 1766.

1736

New hollandse Church

1737
“Here
Lyeth Interrd the
Body of
Cap. James Cuney
Who departed this
Life
February 7th 1737
A.Aetatis 36”Explanation:
“A.Aetatis 36”, it stands for “anno aetatis suae 36”,
that means “”in the year of his age 36 years

“
Gravestone of Henry Stirling (moved from British Cemetery in Jitra)

1731

– Gov.-Gen. Durven and several other high officials are ordered to return to the Netherlands by the Heeren XVII for financial misdeeds. Malaria epidemic sweeps Batavia in 1732.

1733

– Pakubuwono II agrees to heavier debt service payments to VOC. He has his minister Danureja sent into exile in Ceylon.

marked the beginning of an era of cataclysmic violence. The era began with a wholesale massacre of Chinese in Batavia – probably about 10,000 perished – by Dutch citizens resentful of their prosperity and stirred by VOC fears of a Chinese rebellion. Chinese bands fleeing the destruction moved along the north Java coast destroying VOC posts one by one and massacring their inhabitants. Pakubuwana II joined the rebels in attacking Semarang, while the VOC formed an alliance with the Cakraningrats. As the tide turned towards the VOC, Pakubuwana sued for peace, but found himself at once facing a rebellion amongst Javanese and in mid-1742 he was driven out of his capital. VOC troops on the coast, however, and Madurese troops inland were successful in stemming the rebellion and in late 1743, Pakubuwana was formally restored to his throne in exchange for further territorial concessions to the VOC, the guarantee of a perpetual tribute in rice, and the acceptance of a VOC garrison in the Kartasura court. Although the Cakraningrats had been instrumental in the VOC victory, their fate was still less favourable. They were given none of the concessions they wanted on the eastern Java mainland

1740

Within Batavia’s walls, wealthy Dutch built tall houses and pestilential canals. Commercial opportunities attracted Indonesian and especially Chinese immigrants, the increasing numbers creating burdens on the city. Tensions grew as the colonial government tried to restrict Chinese migration through deportations. On 9 October 1740, 5,000 Chinese were massacred

1740

Batavia massacre

The 1740 Batavia massacre was a pogrom against ethnic Chinese living in the port city of Batavia, the Dutch East Indies. The incident lasted for two weeks in October.Up to 80,000 ethnic Chinese lived in Batavia in the early 18th century…. and the following year, Chinese inhabitants were moved to Glodok

Glodok

Glodok is a part of the Jakarta Old Town, Indonesia. The area is also known as Pecinan or Chinatown since the Dutch colonial era, and is considered the biggest in Indonesia, as a majority of the traders in Glodok are of Chinese descent

In the decades after its founding, Batavia grew rapidly as a colonial capital and an international entrepôt.

In 1624 it had had a total population of just 8000, but by 1670 the city was home to around 130,000 people, 27,000 of them living inside the walls. No more than 2000 of these Batavians were Europeans; the rest were a mix of Asian immigrants, chancers and slaves.

There were Arabs and Indians, hundreds of mardijkers – the term by which the Dutch knew emancipated slaves and ‘black Portuguese’ – and thousands of Chinese.Then as now it was the ethnic Chinese who toiled in the economic engine rooms of the great Southeast Asian cities.

Their communities, often intermarried with local women, had been established in Indonesia for centuries; they were the businessmen, the shopkeepers and the investors, and without them a city would stagnate.

Batavia’s founder, Jan Pieterszoon Coen, had recognised this right at the start – he encouraged the Chinese to come to his new capital and allowed them to trade freely at a time when not even Dutchmen were permitted to set up a private business.

Before long they accounted for almost a quarter of Batavia’s entire population – and the most productive quarter at that.

Javanese natives, for reasons of security and contempt, had been banned from living within the city walls of Batavia from the moment they were built.

But the Chinese elicited more complex reactions from those around them. Europeans found much to praise in the apparent Chinese sense of industry; even when they did nothing more than grow vegetables or hawk goods on the streets they seemed to do so with an energetic business plan in mind.

But whenever a particular ethnic group can be identified with wealth, the opprobrium won’t be far behind, and European commentators dished out lashings of contempt along with their backhanded compliments to the industrious Chinese.

A rear-admiral in the Dutch fleet who passed through Batavia in the 18th century drew the most telling of parallels:

Like the Jews in Europe, they are very cunning in trade, both in the largest dealings and in the most trifling pedlary.

They are so desirous of money, that a Chinese will run three times from one end of the city to the other, if he have but the prospect of gaining one penny. In doing any business with them, the greatest care must be taken to avoid being cheated.

And then, having established the Chinese as a race of usurers – and condemning their religion of smoky temples and brassy statues as ‘the most abominable idolatry’ – he wound things up with a most spectacular piece of slander:

The Chinese are of a very lustful temper. They are accused of the most detestable violations of the laws of nature; and it is even said, that they keep swine in their houses, for purposes the most shameful and repugnant.

With views like this being bandied about it was little wonder that jealousy of the Chinese could – and still can – tip over into outright violence from time to time.

Barbarity and Rapine

In 1740 the arrival of some bands of wandering Chinese freebooters on the outskirts of Batavia sent panic-prompting rumours rattling around both the Chinese and European communities of the city.

The Dutch believed that the Chinese were plotting to rebel and annihilate them; the Chinese took whispers of deportation to mean that they were all to be shipped over the horizon and then summarily tipped into the sea.

On the rampage: the 1740 massacre

The entire resident Chinese population was curfewed and several dozen of their number clapped in irons, but with the atmosphere approaching hysteria on both sides, it was inevitable that the prophesies of doom should become self-fulfilling.

When word seeped through the walls that there had been some kind of altercation with the freebooters, and that Dutchmen may have been killed, the entire non-Chinese population of Batavia – very much including the Europeans – went on the rampage. A Dutch resident of the city named Ary Huysers recorded what happened:

An instantaneous cry of murder and horror resounded through the town, and the most dismal scene of barbarity and rapine presented itself on all sides.

All the Chinese, without distinction, men, women, and children, were put to the sword. Neither pregnant women nor suckling infants were spared by the relentless assassins.

The prisoners in chains, about a hundred in number, were at the same time slaughtered like sheep. European citizens, to whom some of the wealthy Chinese had fled for safety, violating every principle of humanity and morality, delivered them up to their sanguinary pursuers, and embezzled the property confided to them. In short, all the Chinese, guilty and innocent, were exterminated.

That last was not hyperbole: Huysers really did mean all of them. There had been around 10,000 Chinese residents in Batavia intra-muros before the massacre.

One result of the slaughter was that the few surviving Chinese from outside the walls, together with their vagabonding countrymen whose arrival had precipitated the carnage, ricocheted off around Java prompting rebellion and uproar wherever they went, and dragging the VOC forces into yet more military entanglement with the decaying royal court of Mataram.

The other result was that Batavia received an economic and social blow that it could ill afford – for by the middle of the 18th century the city, the Company, and the empire it ran, were unmistakably in the pits…

Van Imhoff was born into an East Frisian aristocratic family. His father, Wilhelm Heinrich Freiherr von Imhoff, came from the town of Leer in northwestern Germany, a few kilometers from the Dutch border.

In 1725,

Van Imhoff entered into the service of the Dutch East India Company in Batavia (modern-day Jakarta), then colonial capital of the Dutch East Indies. Van Imhoff was promoted several times within the company before being appointed colonial governor in Ceylon (Modern-day Sri Lanka) on July 23, 1736.

Ceylon

Van Imhoff’s tenure as governor of Ceylon put an end to the chaos that had pervaded the previous administration. He established constructive relations with the king of Kandy, Vira Narendra Sinha.

King Narendra was married to a Tamil princess of Madurai (Tamil Nadu, India), and their child, Sri Vijaya Rajasinha who succeeded him after Narendra’s death on May 24, 1739, was seen to be more Tamil than Sinhalese (the majority ethnic group in Ceylon). Imhoff was concerned about this succession because closer contact between the Tamils of Ceylon, under Sri Vijaya Rajasinha, and the Tamils of south India might endanger the Dutch East India Company’s commercial monopoly. In his letters, Van Imhoff expressed his surprise that the Sinhalese people had accepted such a king, considering their haughty attitude towards the Tamils of India. However, Van Imhoff saw an interesting opportunity in this turn of events. He proposed to the Lords Seventeen (Heeren XVII, the directors of the VOC) that the kingdom of Ceylon be divided in two, but they rejected the proposition: a war would be too costly.

Despite the profitable production of spices, the colony was always in a state of deficit because its profits were allotted to the VOC in general, not to the colony itself. This practice prevented the Governors from becoming too extravagant in their habits, as was the case in other colonies.

Willem Mauritiz Bruininck replaced Van Imhoff as governor of Ceylon and Imhoff returned to Batavia, which he found in a precarious situation. Governor-General Adriaan Valckenier believed that the Chinese population in the area surrounding Batavia had grown too large. He attempted to relocate the population to Ceylon and the Cape Colony (South Africa), but a rumor alleging that the Dutch were planning to throw Chinese people overboard in the middle of the ocean started an insurrection against the VOC. Vackenier responded by massacring approximately 5000 Chinese. Imhoff contested this brutal policy, which led to his arrest and deportation to the Netherlands. Upon his arrival, the Lords Seventeen named him governor-general of the Dutch East Indies and sent him back to Batavia.

En route to Batavia, Imhoff visited the Dutch colony in Cape Town, in the Cape Colony, where he discovered that the citizens were penetrating farther and farther into the interior and were losing contact with the VOC. Imhoff proposed to improve education and the work of the Protestant Church in the colony.

In May 1743,

Imhoff began his tenure in Batavia which was in the midst of a war. The Javanese princes took advantage of the chaotic situation following Valckenier’s actions to begin a war against the VOC. Imhoff succeeded in reestablishing the peace and began several reforms. He founded a Latin school, the first post offices in the Dutch East Indies, a hospital and a newspaper. He also founded the city of Buitenzorg and suppressed the opium trade. In 1746, Imhoff embarked on a tour of Java to inspect the company’s holdings and decided on several institutional reforms.

Imhoff’s tenure was also marked by catastrophe. A ship, the Hofwegen, was struck by lightning and exploded in the port of Batavia along with six tons of silver, totalling around 600,000 Dutch florins.

Ultimately, Imhoff’s progressive policies made him many enemies. Imhoff’s want of diplomacy and his lack of respect for local customs caused the colony to become embroiled in the third war of Javanese succession. Put in an untenable position by his enemies, Imhoff wanted to resign from his post, but the VOC would not allow it. Imhoff was forced to remain in office until his death in 1750, having come to believe that most of his work had been done in vain.

During his stay in Batavia, Imhoff stayed in a high-class residence today known as Toko Merah.[1

1744

“Here
lies interred
the body
of
Henry Stirling
Late Council at Fort Marlborough on this coast
He was ninth son of
James Stirling of Key Esq.
And the honourable
Mr. Maron Stewart
of the Kingdom of Scotland and Departed
this life on first day
of April 1744
Aged 25 years

Brunei, meanwhile, was also in decline before the rising sultanate of Sulu, based in the archipelago between Borneo and Mindanao. In return for backing the successful claimant in a succession dispute in Brunei, Sulu received suzerainty over much of Borneo north of Brunei itself. Sulu’s influence also increased on the east coast of Borneo.

The principal state of the east coast was Kutai, a Malay kingdom in the Mahakam river basin which converted to Islam in the 16th century. From the late 17th century, however, many Buginese settled on the east coast, founding the state of Pasir and for a time dominating the Tidung, Bulungan and Berau regions, though these northern areas were to come under the Sulu sultanate.